Toy submarine



TOY SUBMARINE Filed April 1, 1960 m M MW 0 M u N M 0 Am a R .M my A a m D 5 6 MW TM 1 10 MM; 5 D 4 x 8% 3 w. r A n. v /8 6 M J 6 m1 6 M w k D u a zfi 4 4 4 e w h w United States Patent 3,010,251 TOY SUBMARINE Richard N. Derdowslri, 1531 A South 23, Milwaukee, Wis. Filed Apr. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 19,255 2 Claims. (Cl. 46-94) This invention relates to a novel and improved toy submarine whose rising, submerging, and forward movements are produced and controlled principally by the squeezing and relaxing of a compressible hand-squeezed bulb connected to a bladder located within the submarine.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a more efficient, more versatile, more responsive, and more completely controllable and manenverable toy submarine of the kind indicated, wherein the hand bulb, a tube leading from the bulb to the bladder, and the bladder are sealed, in contrast to being in communication with the atmosphere, so that the delays and malfunctions attendant upon indrawings of outside air for inflating the bladder and outletting air to deflate the bladder, are eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toy submarine of the character indicated above comprising a hollow elongated body or hull having a weight at the bottom thereof, and forwardly of the center of gravity of the body, so that the hull is inherently overbalanced forwardly in water, and the bladder is located in the hull over the weight, so that inflation of the bladder can overcome the overbalancing effect of the weight, by rendering the hull more buoyant in this area.

A further object of the invention is to provide a toy submarine of the character indicated above, wherein the bulb, the tube, and the bladder are proportioned in air capacity so that in an expanded condition of the bulb, the bladder is uninflated and unexpanded, and the bulb has sufficient air capacity to produce substantial inflation and expansion of the bladder, when the bulb is only partly squeezed in the hand of an operator of the toy.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a toy submarine of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic view, on an enlarged scale, showing the toy in longitudinal section, and submerged in water, the hand bulb being held in the hand of an operator on a level above the water, and the toy being shown in phantom lines in a partially risen position; and,

FIGURES 3 and 4 are transverse vertical sections taken on the lines 3-3 and 44 of FIGURE 2.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the illustrated toy submarine comprises a hollow longitudinally elongated rearwardly tapering cigar-shaped hull or body 10, made of suitable rigid material, such as lightweight metal or plastic, having a flat top wall 12, convex side walls 14 and an arcuate bottom wall 16, into which the sidewalls merge. The top wall 12 is straight for the major portion of the length thereof, and at its rear end is slightly downwardly angled, as indicated at18.

The bottom wall 16 has a rear portion 20, of substantial length, which curves rearwardly and upwardly, to substantially meet the rear end of the top wall 12. Rear portions 22 of the side walls 14, corresponding in length to the bottom wall portion 20, are rearwardly and laterally inwardly angled to substantially meet the rear ends of the top and bottom walls, and a conical portion 24 connects and merges into the rear ends of the various "ice walls. A horizontal stabilizer 26 extends at opposite sides of the conical portion, and a vertical rudder 28, extends rearwardly of and above and below the conical portion 24.

At a location just forward of the midlength point of the hull 10, the top wall 12 is formed with an upstanding longitudinally elongated hollow superstructure 30, which has a low rear portion 32 and a taller forward portion 34, from which rises a simulated periscope 36. The superstructure 30 opens into the interior of the hull 10, and has formed in the lower port-ion of its side walls, a small number of relatively greatly longitudinally spaced water transfer holes 38.

Extending in straight rows along the upper parts of the hull side walls 14, from near the horizontal stabilizer 26 to and around the bulbous convex nose 40 of the hull 10, are closely spaced, preferably rectangular, and rel-atively small water transfer openings 42, and in the lower parts of the side walls 14 are widely spaced transfer holes 43.

Suitably fixed upon, and preferably inset in the bottom wall 16, beneath the forward portion 34 of the superstructure 30, is an elongated flat weight 44. The weight 44 is located just forward of the center of gravity of the hull 10, so that the hull 10, when submerged in water W, has a positive tendency to dive or nose downwardly and forwardly.

Extending into the interior of the hull 10, through a snug opening 46 in the lower part of the nose 40, is a flexible tube 48, which extends rearwardly along the bottom wall 16, across the top of the weight 44, and through a lower opening 50 which is provided in the lower part of a vertical transverse partition wall or bulkhead 52 which is fixed across the interior of the hull 10, in a position at the rear end of the superstructure 30. From behind the bulkhead 52, the tube 48 is curved upwardly and forwardly and is directed forwardly through an upper opening 54, provided in the bulkhead above the lower opening 50, and a longitudinally elongated bladder 56 is V secured, at its rear end, to. and in communication with the tube 48, as indicated at 58, and occupies a position directly beneath the superstructure 30. A hold-down, such as a flat hook 60, is fixed to the bottom wall 16, near the nose 40, and is engaged over the tube 48 and holds the same down in place. A water transfer hole 59, above the hole 54, is provided in the bulkhead 52.

The tube 48 has a forward end 62, which is connected by a separable coupling 64, to the lower end of a flexible extension tube 66, which has secured on and in communication with its upper end, as indicated at 68, a resilient hand squeeze bulb 70. The extension tube 66 is substantially longer than the tube 48, and the air capacity of the bulb 70 is substantially larger than the air capacity of the bladder 56, when the latter is in its contracted and uninflated condition.

In operation, and when the bladder is uninflated, the hull 10 sinks in water W, since such limited buoyancy as the hull 10 may have is cancelled out or overcome by the Weight 44, at least to the extent that the hull sinks far enough to put the water transfer openings 38, 42, and 43, below water level and cause water to flow therethrough into and substantially fill the hull 10. As the water-filled hull 10 submerges in the water, the weight 44 causes the hull to submerge at a forward angle, and causes the hull 10 to plane or dive downwardly and forwardly in the water, thus automatically producing forward travel of the hull, without the intervention of any outside agency.

Levelling of the hull 10 in the water W, as shown in FIGURE 2, is produced by squeezing the hand bulb 70 only enough to partially inflate the bladder 56 and endow the bladder with the requisite buoyancy to overcome the diving effect of the weight 44. Rise of the hull upwardly in the water, from such a submerged position, is produced by squeezing the hand bulb 70 enough to transfer, to the bladder 56, through the tubes 66 and 48, suflicient air to effect a substantial inflation of the bladder 56 suificient to cause the hull 10 to rise in and angle forwardly and upwardly in the Water. This rise and upwardly angling of the hull automatically produces forward travel of the hull 10 in the Water, as does the above described diving of the hull.

It will be understood from the foregoing, that quick and hard or full squeezing of the bulb 70 will produce sharp upward angling of the hull 10, accompanied by rapid and forceful upward planing of the bull in the water, such that the forward part of the hull will come out of the water W, with spectacular effect; and that appropriate squeezing and relaxing of the hand bulb are operative to produce various full and intermediate maneuvering of the hull in the water. The weight 44, besides producing effective forward overbalancing of the hull 10, serves as means for righting the hull in the water, whenever the same may have rolled on its side or have become inverted. Further, the Weight 44supplies momentum to maintain forwardand rearward travel of the hull 10, so that, on initiation of such travel, by operation of the hand bulb, the hull can travel distances longer than, and without assistance of pull on the tubes 66 and 48 by'the operator holding the hand bulb 70.

It will also be'understood that the etfectof inflating the bladder 56 is to displace and expel a corresponding amount of water from the interior of the hull 10, through the; transfer holes thereby decreasing the submersive Weight 'ofthe hull, so that the buoyance produced by infiation of the bladder is supplemented by the expulsion of water from the hull.

While there has been shown and described herein a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as definedby the claims appended hereto.

What isclaimed is:

1. In a diving toy, a hollow body having water transfer openings, a relatively short inflatable bladder positioned within the middle part of said body, flexible tube means leading from said bladder out of an end of the body and having a squeeze bulb thereon, the squeeze bulb, the tube means, and the bladder being air-sealed against the entrance of outside air thereinto, and positioning means comprising a bulkhead extending across the interior of the hull behind the bladder and spaced from the adjacent end of the hull, said bulkhead having upper and lower openings and a Water transfer opening thereabove, said first tube being trained inwardly through said lower opening and forwardly through said upper opening to the bladder.

2. A toy submarine comprising an elongated hollow hull having a top wall, side walls, and a bottom wall, a bulkhead extending across the interior of the hull at a midlength location, said hull having a rear and a forward end, water entrance and exit means comprising openings distributed along the hull side walls and its bottom wall, a relatively short inflatable bladder positioned within the hull between said bulkhead and the rear end of, the hull, saidbladder being only a fraction in length of the distance between said bulkhead and the forward end of the hull, flexible tube means extending into the hull through the forward end of the hull, said tube means having an outer end to which a closed squeeze bulb. is connected, said tube means extending through said bulkhead and having an inner end connected to an end of the bladder, said bladder, said tube means, and said squeeze bulb being air-sealed against the entrance of outside air thereinto, said bladder having a' rear end to which the inner end of the tube means is connected, said tube means extending rearwardly in the hull beneath the bladder, and through the bulkhead, said tube means having a return-bent portion passing forwardly through the bulkhead on a level with the bladder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,243,287 1 

